Olympian Srabani Nanda won the first medal for host Odisha in the 62nd National Inter State Senior Athletics Championship, securing the women 100m silver with a time of 11.59 seconds on the second day of the five-day meet at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar today.

Local favourite Srabani and Jyothi Yarraji of Andhra Pradesh battled for supremacy in the women 100m dash. However, Jyothi, who trains at Odisha Reliance Foundation Athletics High Performance Centre in Bhubaneswar, pipped Srabani to post a personal best time of 11.46 seconds to win the gold. Himashree Roy (Haryana) took the bronze, clocking 11.71 seconds.

The National Inter State Senior meet in Bhubaneswar will act as a last qualification for the Asian Athletics Championship to be held in Bangkok,Thailand from July 12 to 16. This will also serve as the selection trial for the Asian Games 2023 scheduled to be held in Hangzhou, China in September and the World Athletics Championships to be held in Budapest, Hungary from August 19 to 27.

According to National chief athletics coach Radhakrishnan Nair, Athletics Federation of India (AFI) plans to send a big contingent of 60 athletes to compete at the Asian championship.

Odisha government has provided all the support, including boarding and lodging to the athletes. Among other notable performers from Odisha, Lalu Prasad Bhoi and Salmi Kispotta finished a respectable fourth in men 100m run and women discus throw.

RESULTS OF ODISHA ATHLETES:

MEN: Krushna Chandra Acharya 12th in 20km race walk. Pankaj Mondal bowed out in 800m heats. Ashok Dandasena bowed out in 800m heats. Dondapati Mruty Jayaram bowed out in 100m heats, Lalu Prasad Bhoi 4th in 100m run, Amiya Kumar Mallick 8th in 100m run, Anand Kumar Divedi 6th in 35km race walk, Hari Behera 12th in discus throw.

WOMEN: Sukhi Baskey bowed out in 100m heats. Bonita Lakra bowed out 100m heats. Salmi Kispotta 4th in discus throw. Susmita Tigga 6th in 3000m steeplechase.
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PHOTO: Odisha Olympian Srabani Nanda celebrates after winning the women 100m silver medal at the National Inter State Senior Athletics Championship in Bhubaneswar on 16 June 2023.